Tucson to Karchner Caverns.

Track Road to Nowhere. Talking heads.
"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end."

Day 21.

Pete took the breakfast and reading helm whilst Becs headed off for a run. It turned out to be quite an adventure as it was boiling hot even though still early, and having got into a private golf course, she couldnt find a way out and was chased by old people in a golf buggy and climbed 2 walls to get back. Had a lovely morning by the pool, shop in Walmarts and prepared ourselves for the biggest drive yet. Becs did her first bit of driving at the beginning and managed to keep on the road and within the speed limit.  It was also noted by Pete that the navigation was harder than it looked!! The journey was long but pleasant and the boys were really well behaved.

It was exciting going through the roadblock on the Mexican border and checking out all the cacti from the window. We were very relieved however to arrive in Tucson (pronounced Two-son) which is where our troubles began. Pete had his first disaster on the camping spot. The first had been turned into a baseball stadium.  We next pulled into another place which looked a bit ropey. A man with his hand missing and two bull mastifs were walking through the permanent trailer park and another interesting looking chap appeared like an aperition at the window and invited us to stay, no formal set up. Brief but strongly spoken words were exchanged between becs and pete whilst he went to find us some keys for the bathroom, and Pete put his foot to the floor and sped outta there in a dust cloud. The third place had been replaced by a federal prison so we pulled into the prison car park to feed the boys and put on their pjs. It was dark and atmospheric.  Tensions running high we left Tucson and drove another 20 miles, having now been on the road for 8hrs, into the welcoming arms of more old folk playing bingo in the RV rec room.

 Day 22.

Well, in the light of day, Cactus Country RV resort was a beautiful spot. There was a fantastic swimming pool and spa, which we again made private use of, and then had a family shower in the mens restroom, interupted only briefly by a cowboy who used the urinal while becs hid in the cubicle. He hollered 'All clear now Ma'am' as he left though which was very curteous in the circumstances. They've seen everything though these cowboys.

Making sure there were no rattlesnakes in our boots we filled up on propane and ventured an hour down the road the the Karchner Caverns State Park.





The guided tour took us into the 'live' cave which was wierdly warm and humid compared to the outside. The caves were only discovered in 1974 by a couple of college students into caving, and they were kept a secret for 14yrs until it was ensured that they could be opened to the public without damaging the fragile ecosystem within. We were misted as we entered to dampen any lint from our clothes and not allowed to touch anything other than the walkways which were hosed down every day. Pretty awesome place and dylan impressed but disappointed not to see batman. Solomon did a very loud poo during the audio visual element much to the amusement of all.

We then had an interesting walk around looking at the flowers and birds including several species of hummingbird. Had tea watching the sunset over the desert. It was beautiful but children do not honour the same codes as most adults, and say it like it is. Rather than trying to ignore the obvious dylan annouced he was freezing, which it was, so we moved the party inside!

San Diego to Yuma ARIZONA.

Track Wait so long- Trampled by Turtles.

From Anchorman. Ron Burgundy. "Discovered by Germans in 1904 they named it San Diego, which means a whale's vagina."
Victoria Corningstone. "No, there's no way thats correct."
Ron. "No, I'm sorry I was trying to impress you. I don't know what it means. I'll be honest. I don't think anyone knows what it means anymore. Scholars maintain that the translation was lost hundreds of years ago."
Victoria.  "Doesn't it mean Saint Diego?"
Ron." No, no."
Victoria. "no, that's what it means really."
Ron. "Agree to disagree."

Day 19.

  Becs had her breakfast cooked for her, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on muffins and then opened her cards including a lovely one from dylan and sol with MOM embroidered on the front.


Unfortunately our beach side location obviously was'nt going to come into its own as it was pretty overcast so we headed to Balboa Park and San Diego Zoo, which was amazing.

We went on a bus tour and a cable car (Pete was a bit scared) and walked about the animals, notably polar bears, pandas (the first place to breed in captivity) and many other rare or endangered species.

A real highlight was lunch as we went to the Zoos restaurant and had lovely food, a free ice cream pudding with candles and becs even had a birthday Mai Tai.

In the late afternoon we left San Diego seeing the big aircraft carriers parked up in the bay - very Top Gun, and then headed a hour or out to Oakzanita Springs. We stopped to buy some fresh fruit and veg from a road side stall, all really good. scenery quickly changed and it became cooler as we headed into the mountains.

The RV park was one of the best yet. It was practically empty, the ranger was really friendly and there was a lovely playpark and club house with a fake fire and mountain lodge type feel. We ate our supper in there and then sat in the RV once the boys were asleep and drank some californian sparkling wine. A really lovely birthday.


Day 20.  

Took advantage of our solo occupancy and went in the hot tub first thing in shifts pushing Solomon and showering and breakfasting in between. The dinosaur digging fossil playpit kept dylan amused for quite a while.

It was nice to feel off the beaten track and this feeling continued into the day. Within an hours drive the landscape changed again, we left California and we were plunged into the scenary of a Hollywood western. There were bolder filled canyons and shouts of Cactus! from the back.

Our first port of call in Arizona was the town of Felicity...population 4. Before we even got out of the RV Felicia our host came to meet us. We quickly had to remove our jumpers and hats as it was hot. The town of Felicity comprises of a homestead, a museum, church, a staircase from the Eiffel tower and even a pyramid.

 The main attraction is the claim to be the centre of the world which stemmed from a children's book and was embraced by the French government and given offical status.

We stood or sat in solomons case on the plaque inside the pyramid and shook Felicias hand to receive our certificates.  Totally random but Felicia whom the town was named after was modest and charming and told us how her husband had bought the land and then thought of ways to attact visitors. The latest addition to the area is a History of Humanity written on numerous granite slabs, designed to preserve our history for generations to come. We were the last visitors for this season as they were closing up and heading off to cooler climes fro the summer the following day.

Back on the road into Yuma and our age-qualified RV park. All of the 'Snow Birds' as they are know (old folk from all over the Staes and Canada who follow the sun around) had also recently headed home so the lovely manager, sneaked us in despite not being over 55yrs.

After another swim, Solomons first time in the pool, we went to a local garage called 'Sunbums RVs' for some essential maintenance and then to a really cool diner called Lute's Casino in downtown Yuma.

Los Angeles to San Diego

Track - Africa - Toto.
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall" Confucius.

Day 17.  We had an early start with the kids made interesting by Pete standing up too quickly during a game of hide of seek whilst becs was in the shower and clonking his head on a glass lampshade causing glass to shatter everywhere and more screams of Blood! Blood! from dylan.

Dressing in place on petes hand, we then headed to the dollar cinema as the Dooleys call it to see Wreck it Ralph and then went for a great chinese in downtown Lancaster with a remarkable ensuite shoe shop.

After packing up, another paddling pool session for dylan, and van cleaning for Pete, we said our farewells and headed off in no particular direction. Spoilt and over-relaxed after stay with the Dooleys we only started thinking of a plan when we had gone 20 miles in the wrong direction and opted for an inland route. Backtracking we then headed off to San Bernadino.

 Becs was for the first time given the responsibility of choosing the RV park for the night. She thought she had come up with a real cracker in Reche Canyon Mobile Estates.....how wrong she was! After an hour of driving around the trailer park trying to find the manager, the assisstant manager and then the assistant manager, we decided to park up aided by a pack of kids on bikes. It was 8pm and both boys were feeding when a horrible dutchwoman on a golf scooter came and literally chased us off. Much confusion ensued and quite a bit of map throwing and shouting out of the window into the night but with pete back at the helm, we were back on route to another place. Needless to say a strongly worded letter was threatened but of course will never be written.

They gladly took us in at the Fishermans Retreat Campsite (essentially a place for men to go and camp and hide from their wives) and we pulled in very late next to Chuck and Wren. We know this as it is written on the side of both their RV and pickup.

 Day 18

Woke up to the sound of a cargo train slowly trundling by and dylan asking about his porridge. The rvpark we were staying in had a pool and Jacuzzi so family ryell all braved the pool whilst on the look out for rattlesnakes, which were in season apparently, before setting off towards San Diego.

Becs was nominated for dumping duty as petes hand injury prevented the potential for poo to hand contact! Drive seemed long due to unsettled kids and the constant danger of exiting the freeway before the intended time. The outisde slow lane often just becomes an exit lane without much warning and there are regular shouts from becs of "don't get sucked off too early!"

Nervous about her previous poor choice so opting for the high end of the market 'campland on the bay' was a welcome break although we arrived to a slightly grey and drizzly san diego... we're nearly at the mexican border whats that all about!!! The rain put and end to the boys plans to hit the on-site skate park so Dylan and becs headed off to the pool while pete went to the shops for some bday treats.

Becs then handed sol back to Pete who made chilli in the van with him in one arm and becs hung out with dylan and several mexican kids in the pool, literally all of them hanging off her neck at one point shouting numbers in Spanish. Then both parents had separate encounters with park regulars. Becs's was with an obviously keen drinker doing his recyling ( its not foreplay but its still important) and pete was with an also inebriated widow from yuma in a neighboring rv.

Now upto datewith blog for first time. More effort needed to take photos on tablet. 

Anaheim to Lancaster.

Track - Heart of Gold - Neil Young.
"If you can dream it, you can do it." Walt Disney.

Day 14.

Dylans birthday was started with present opening and the usual morning routine. Honey-Sue kindly gave us their address to stay when we are in Arkansas and then we headed to Disneyland.  It was smooth from the start with parking and the shuttle in. Dylan was given a big badge, sorry button, with Happy Birthday on it and then congratulated by everyone he saw all day.

We started easy with Its a small world and the Tiki Room and then we upped the game. Dylan refused to go on Roger Rabbits ride as their were wierd sound effects and it was dark in the queue and then we made him endure Pirates of the Caribbean during which he opened his eyes for approximately 2 secs. He had his revenge on Pete though who bottled it half way up Tarzans treehouse and took great pleasure in telling everyone that daddy was scared of heights.

There was lots of character cuddling and we made tigger wait whilst we deleted some of the videos so we had some memory. He was fine about it - he was literally speechless. That's the wonderful thing about tigger.

Solomon was great all day and stared wide eyed at everything. There were literally tears of joy in dylans eyes as he waved at all the charactors in the parade and then Pete and Becs treated themselves to a delicious meal in fake New Orleans, the Blue Bayou, a restaurant in the middle of the Pirates ride.

 We left at 9pm as the park closed feeling all warm and disneyfied and hit a truly epic drive across LA. The 6 lane freeway went straight through the skyscrapers and it was the first real test of becs' navigation skills and Petes RV manuvering. Luckily the sight of a 25ft RV late at night driven by foreign idiots through sunset boulevard etc was enough to give us some space.

 We arrived in Lancaster and although the Dooleys had kindly waited up for us, we kipped on the drive in the van as we were too tired to unpack.

  Day 15

 Moved into the guest house and we were treated to a lovely homecooked breakfast of eggs straight from the chickens / pigeon and then had a great day hanging out with Travis - Petes second cousin originally from California, Nicole (originally from Queensland Australia) and Aubrey (also aged 4) a fantastic combination of the two.

Dylan had a bit of a crush and was showing off. Being 4 yrs old has brought with it some challenging behaviour including a new trick of mimicing everything you say during a telling off. For example, "No YOU'RE being ridiculous Daddy" and the even more tricky "but I can see you laughing Mummy" and then in total melt down mode," I wanna go home "- which is a particularly low blow given what we are trying to do here!

Still he really enjoyed toys such as an electric car and watching some TV. We had a lovely bbq in the evening and a few beers and then watched The Hunger Games, a great film.

Day 16

Lovely night sleep in the Dooleys guest house and had a chance to catch up on admin with approx 8 loads of washing (all dry on the line in 30 mins - mums here don't know their luck) and pete took the kids off to the play park whilst becs put the first edition to the blog online. Thanks to Nicole for hours of arsing around with our photos and dropbox. The remainder of the photos included will be taken on the tablet itself as getting them off the proper camera is a job for back home. Had a fantastic mexican buffet for lunch and then some snoozing and paddling pool action in the afternoon.

Rincon to Malibu.

Track - Corona by the Minutemen. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity" Albert Einstein.

Day 12.

Headed to a camera store and then Rincon after breakfast and reading practice. Rincon was beautiful. Pete had a great surf and coped with strong rip very well. Not often you can walk out into the lineup. God bless point breaks. Dylan and becs slid about on their bums in the white water and talked to Nolan, also 10 weeks and his mum, in the beach shack.

Drove into Oxnard for another electronics store, very promising, and groceries from Vons, before getting back onto Ventura blvd into Malibu and a stunning beachtop RVPARK.  No matter where you are there are still those half hours of madness, where everyone needs feeding and patching up after grazes.

Lovely day though and when both boys sleeping some time for mum and dad to catch up with writing. Much frustration when technology still not meeting up with our utopian standards and the b****y plug in we have bought not accessing our photos as it had done in the shop merely an hour ago! One day we will have our blog online, but tonight is for Barefoot cabernet sauvignon and bands from LA off spotify on the sporadic wifI!

Day 13.

 Nice lazy start to the day soaking up the Malibu sunshine from our cliff-top vista. Then a very frustrating and death defying arrival at the beach involving a 33 point turn in Zuma Jays car park and dragging dylan and sol in the pushchair accross highway 1 at a so called crosswalk.

 Pete had a good surf whilst becs did some more bum sliding and breastfeeding. We headed to Topanga Canyon in the afternoon, once home of Neil Young, Jim Morrison etc, in search of some hippy action. Found some cool shops and bought some clothes and then headed into central LA to position ourselves battleready for disney.

The sat nav route included some salubrious neighbourhoods....'straight outta Compton'. Lots of 12 lane sections of freeway with no note to lane regulation. If that hadnt been hard enough, in true ryell style we hit it during rush hour and added the extra twist of running out of petrol. Arrived in Anaheim RV Parking lot, sorry campsite, and had early birthday cake just to calm ourselves. Even though we hadnt told dylan the plan, he was still too excited to sleep....or maybe it was the cake????!.

Moro Bay to Santa Barbara

?Track - Riders On The Storm - The Doors. "Just dont go back to Big Sur, baby baby just dont go"- The Thrills.

Day 9.   On the way out of big sur we were going to stop at a local beach but changed our minds as it was a little overcast and the road sign suggested the track down was unsuitable to large vehicles. It was a good job we didnt hang about though as the drive was quite hard along highway 1 south around some very tight corners and with steep edges immediately to our right down to the crashing waves.

 The weather changed minute to minute from thick fog to sunshine. We had lunch whilst stopped by the road workers rebuilding a bridge as they had helpfully told us that we would be at least 20mins.

Another stop off was made to see a beach covered in elephant seals although this was shortlived as dylan fell on the gravel (the first of 3 falls today) and his wailing made us feel a little awkward amongst the other seal spotters. Stopped at Hearst Castle, a funny spot which seems to be the product of a very opulent man around the turn of the century making it of historical relevance to the Americans. The tours were all fully booked and we didnt think the boys would like the 45min informative film so we ate cookies in the garden of the gift centre instead.

The day ended with a walk around the nature reserve and a meal out in a cafe at Moro Bay. Becs had beautiful scallops and Pete managed to have a combination of mexican meets fish and chips which was a dish not even on the menu.

Day10. Up with the lark this day....well 7.30 anyway. Headed off to Moro bay for breakfast, a run for becs and a surf for Pete. Slightly sketchy drive including nearly entering the freeway on the wrong side up the exit.  Waves unfortunately were big but total close outs so pete was instead tasked with making the cast of batman, including car, out of sand.

After a good couple of hours on the beach in glorious sunshine we headed off south towards Santa Barbara along El Camino Real highway 101.  We spent the afternoon at a beautiful state park beach called Refugio.

Now we are really talking the California we all imagine. Palm tree lined white sands. Unfortunately the campsite was full so after the baths, and tea for dylan we headed back on the highway to Cachuma Lake in the foothills above Santa Barbara. There was a cracking sunset and we had a lovely spot right next to a little playground. Managed a game bannograms before all getting a fairly early night.

Day 11   Getting a little routine established now. Had our porridge and a play on the slides, showers, breast feeding, dumping and refilling and we were off again back down into Santa Barbara.

We headed to the wharf but decided to park at the RV site and bus it into town. Walked down through State st and had lunchin an american diner watching NBA and eating burgers.







Then had ice creams on the pier before deciding to walk home. Dylan scooted shirt off along with all the roller bladers and joggers and felt pretty cool. It was a long walk however, carrying at the end. Spent the night in a Rv park only a small wall away from the interstate, thunder and lightening booming

Monterey Bay to Big Sur

Track -Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival.  "I could not help concluding this man had the most supreme pleasure while he was driven so fast and so smoothly by the sea" Captain James Cooke.

Day 6.   As it turns out...a loud knock on the door at 10pm when we were fast asleep by a self proclaimed activist against camping on the street, luckily he seemed to regret disturbing us and immediately apoligised and wished us well.

 Woke up to a foggy morning and a lovely cliff top run for becs doing the surf report for pete. After breakfast and some reading practice for dylan, pete headed out into steamer lane and caught a couple of nice waves. Cold in the water and lots of kelp around the legs.

 We then headed out to Monterey stopping to get some artichokes on route. They are growing everywhere. Found a lovely stop in Marina Rv park in the dunes.

 Saw sea eagles and a ground squirrel and nearly got blown off into the pacific. Had a bbq and did our washing and generally felt like we were getting into the swing of it all. Dylan made some little friends and we managed to stay awake later than the boys for the first time and have a few drinks.


Day 7.   After a lazy start and again dumping and reloading (dylan and becs have nominated pete for this job) we were off again down highway 1 to Monterey.  We found a parking spot in town and sorted out quarters into the meter and then into the aquarium.

Our favourites were the sea otters, the jellies, the seahorses and the hammerhead shark. Made our first contact home with a few signal problems, and then we drove the '17mile drive' a section of road along the coast you pay 9 bucks todrive along, with the famous Loan cypress tree and some prime real estate amongst multiple golf courses.

We picked up a few groceries in Carmel by the sea and a copy of Monterey Peninsula Homes Magazine.

For a mere $27, 000, 000 you can snap up 3410 17 mile drive, a beautifully maintained home and grounds on 2.4 acres, the essence of pebble beach elegance! We camped in a beautiful spot called Saddle Mountain RV Campsite.

 Day 8   Had a nice slow start to the day with lovely hot showers for all, and some drawing for mummy and dylan. We headed on along a stunning coastal drive to Big Sur. We found another fantastic camping area called Riverside RV Camping and we had a spot right on the river.

 We went off for a walk to see a waterfall in a nearby state park and it was about 2 miles round trip, all of which dylan walked, with a little encouragement.  The trees were enormous.

 We saw quite a few very large green slugs too. Dylan and pete did some playing in the river whilst Solomon had an outside bath in his rubber duck. We then had a campfire complete with sausages and marshmallows. Both boys unusually fell asleep well before us so we were able to sit out and watch the older children catch crayfish by torchlight.